A depleted Bangor U16s travelled to Carrickfergus for our first league match of the season. Due to injuries and unavailability the match was almost conceded but Josh Newell despite suffering a hand injury turned up and enabled the match to take place. A massive thanks to Josh and hopefully he has not suffered any more damage.
The match kicked off and after good ball retention by Carrick and a lovely break by the Carrick 12 he scored under the posts 5 minutes into the game which was converted 7 - 0. It was apparent this was a well drilled Carrick team and from the kick off they were on the front foot again and after half a dozen phases and 11 minutes of play their No 8 broke through a number of tackles and scored out wide which went unconverted 12 – 0.
Once again from the kick off Carrick where in attack mode with strong running, good support and missed tackles they scored again which went unconverted 17 – 0. The next 10 mins of play saw possession alternate between the two teams, a knock on by Bangor and a quick pick up and deft footwork by the Carrick centre saw another unconverted try for Carrick 24 – 0. Things did not improve from the kick off strong running and support led to another Carrick unconverted score 29 – 0. Shortly after this a dump tackle on Mason Williams meant he had to leave the field and our only sub Jack Hunter replaced him at scrum half. Carrick won the line out from the penalty and It was déjà vu with another unconverted score just before half time 34 – 0.
The second half began as the first half ended with Carrick dominant when Bangor suffered a further blow when Josh Newell had to retire from the field leaving Bangor with 14 men. Shortly after this with Carrick on the offensive another try was scored and converted. 41 – 0.
At this point and in compliance with the laws the match was conceded and the remaining time was played as a friendly. Bangor seemed more determined and the next 10 mins of play was evenly contested. Good play by Carrick and another break resulted in an unconverted try. Carrick scored two more tries despite the efforts of Bangor but the boys did not give up and in the final minute of the game a loose kick by Carrick was recovered and a great display of continuity between Bangor forwards and backs ended with Tyler Mahaffy shrugging out of tackles and sprinting 30 meters to score under the posts.
The boys should not be despondent. That was an experienced Carrick side that has been together for 2 years and this is our first year as U16s. Even with 14 men there were glimpses of how we know they can play and we need to make that more consistent.
Training Wednesday night 19.00 – 20.30 in preparation for the friendly away against Ophir next Saturday.